State and Local Tax

Our extensive experience advising multinational businesses on local and multistate tax issues is unlike nearly any other firm. It has been at the core of what we do since HMB was founded. Our practice touches nearly every corner of the U.S.—handling matters in all 50 states. This breadth means we can assist you with sophisticated tax planning strategies, ongoing counsel and dispute resolution for any state and local tax (SALT) matter you may encounter.

The understanding and hands-on skill we bring to your SALT matters runs the gamut of almost every situation you may encounter. We focus upfront on risk management strategies that will limit your current and future tax exposures. We specialize in unique areas of the law, like unclaimed property and franchise tax compliance, which few firms are equipped to handle. And we defend you as necessary when facing complex tax controversies or audit proceedings.

We have first-hand experience working in-house at large corporate tax departments, Big Four accounting firms, AmLaw 100 firms and state agencies. This means we not only understand multistate SALT issues across the country, we personally know how they impact you.

Because we tackle the thorniest problems time and again, we intuitively know what is important to state administrators and the actions necessary to bring you timely resolutions. We have worked hard to build and maintain ongoing relationships with key state administrators, which means we know right away where to go to have a matter addressed.

We keep you up to speed on the latest state tax cases and legislative changes, but also assist you with policymaking efforts. We frequently speak on multistate tax issues, have authored comprehensive treatises on significant Illinois and other state tax matters and opine in national publications.

In a prior post, I explained the basics of the Chicago Personal Property Lease Transaction Tax (“Transaction Tax”), including the applicability of the tax to tangible personal property and software, potentially applicable exemptions and exclusions from the tax, and collection issues. This follow-up post in the Practitioner Series further clarifies the application of the Transaction Tax to “cloud” software products…

Arizona's supreme court requires online travel companies, or OTCs, to pay local taxes on the revenue they receive for arranging hotel stays in the state. The court determined that OTCs do not qualify as being in the business of operating a hotel and thus found that the local privilege tax on hotels didn't apply. Breen spoke with Tax Notes regarding…

At the beginning of 2016, Chicago implemented a unique method to tax businesses for their use of remote computing services, also known as the cloud. The Personal Property Lease Transaction Tax program collected $13.9 million during its first six months and rose to $42.2 million through 6/30/18. In an article by Bloomberg Law News, Samantha Breslow explained that Chicago is…

Read the full article on State Tax Notes here (subscription required). In his new column on State Tax Notes, Chris discusses how states and Congress should address challenges presented by Public Law 86-272 and criticizes state efforts to interpret the law out of existence. In the past 15 years, the state corporate income tax landscape has undergone significant change. Although…

Starting October 1st, 2019, two new Amnesty programs will arrive in Illinois. One will cover all taxes administered by the Department of Revenue. The other program will cover franchise taxes. Before these programs come into play, members of the HMB State and Local Tax practice provide insight into what these changes will look like. Taxes Administered by Department of Revenue…

10/24/19 JW Marriott Washington, DC Fred and Marilyn will co-present with fellow Paul Frankel Award recipients at COST's 50th annual meeting. Over his long career, Paul Frankel, the "Godfather of COST", spearheaded a number of issues that evolved over the years. In this session, presenters will discuss those issues, their evolution and Paul's impact on them. If you want to…

12/17/19 Grand Hyatt New York on 42nd Street New York City, NY New York University's 37th Institute on State and Local Taxation Fred Marcus will present "Today in Taxes" at New York University's 37th Institute on State and Local Taxation on December 17th, 2019. The most important SALT developments will be discussed throughout the event by a team of industry…

11/15/19 Tax Strategies 2019 Hotel Allegro Chicago, IL David Hughes will present "State and Local Tax Issues in Corporate M&A Transactions" for Practising Law Institute at Tax Strategies 2019 on November 15th, 2019. The presentation will address state and local tax issues that arise in corporate transactions with a particular emphasis on Section 338(h)(10) sales and tax-free reorganizations and spin-offs.…

9/11/19 2019 North East State Tax Officers Association Annual Meeting Roger Williams Park Providence, Rhode Island Marilyn Wethekam will discuss important state tax policy issues including final IRS regulations on federal charitable contributions and state law enactment of state tax credit for these federal deductions, “qui tam” cases involving taxation pros and cons and a recap of Taxpayer Advocates in…

State and local governments are trying to apply older tax laws to modern technologies such as streaming services. This one-size-fits-all ideology of the decades-old regulations leaves the law on shaky ground. Marilyn Wethekam discussed how shoehorning old tax laws to modern business services can be a setback at the Multistate Tax Commission's annual meeting in Boise, Idaho. "Ordinances and statutes…

The Kansas Department of Revenue will require remote sellers to collect and remit tax on sales starting October 1st. This change has small businesses worried. The change could mean a loss of business for the state. Breen Schiller, a member of HMB's State and Local Tax Group, spoke about the potential ramifications of Kansas' decision in Kan. To Tax All…

Disclosing tax return information has always been a dicey topic. Under the guise of transparency, there have been several proposals by tax advocates over the years to disclose tax information. The focus of these proposals has generally been on the taxes paid by corporate America and the use of tax planning strategies. As a general principle, this type of limited…

Illinois’ tax treatment of leases is an anomaly when compared to most other jurisdictions.[1] The general rule in most jurisdictions is to impose sales tax on the receipts collected from the lessee, the actual user of the equipment. However, Illinois differs, at least in the context of a long-term lease (i.e., more than one year), by treating the lessor of…

8/7/19 The Multistate Tax Commission 52nd Annual Meeting The Grove Hotel Boise, Idaho A panel discussion addressing the challenges faced by both state and local taxing authorities to modernize their tax structures to address the changing landscape of digital products and other business models. The discussion is from the view of both tax administrators and tax practitioners.…

2019 State and Local Tax Workshop for Technology Companies Foster City, California Beware of the Locals—They Might Take You by Surprise With Jordan Goodman San Francisco, Mountain View, Portland, Seattle—what are these cities thinking? Each has aggressively targeted businesses (and, in many situations, exclusively tech businesses) for new revenue. This panel will provide an overview of several of these new…

6/27/19 Saddle & Cycle Club Chicago, IL David Hughes presents "Indirect and Operational Tax" at the Chicago Tax Club's Summer Seminar on June 27th. The presentation reviews recent state cases that defy logic and would cause any tax professional to think twice about whether the positions they take are on solid ground. Click here to learn more about the seminar.…

As you may be aware, the Illinois legislature recently completed its 2019 legislative session. This session was particularly productive from a tax legislation perspective and we would like to update you on the key state and local tax changes that may affect you or your business. Please do not hesitate to contact any member of the HMB SALT team if…

Spring 2019 Start-Up Conference Start-Up: State Tax Roundtable for Utilities & Power New York, New York Breen Schiller and Chris Lutz Present "Combined Reporting and the Unitary Business Principle, with a focus on Regulated and Unregulated Groups" at Spring 2019 Start-Up Conference…

5/15/19 Georgetown University Law Center Washington, DC Breen and Chris will discuss income tax and cryptocurrency at the 42nd Annual Advanced State and Local Tax Institute. Georgetown Law will host the event, and offers two full days of SALT sessions for attendees. If you have questions about the presentation, click here to contact Breen and Chris.…

5/15/19 - 5/16/19 42nd Advanced State and Local Tax Institute Georgetown University Law Center Washington, D.C. Breen Schiller, "Income Tax: A National Overview" - 5/15/19, 12:45pm-1:45pm Learn the current status of states' continued migration to combined reporting, and gain an in-depth understanding of specific states' recent adoptions, such as those by Kentucky and New Jersey Understand common and divergent trends…

5/14/19 State Tax Round Up for Utilities and Power New York, NY Marilyn Wethkam conducts adetailed discussion of the issues that arise as a result of the states' application of IRC section 163 (j) bot in a regulated and non-regulated setting.…

5/7/19 Salvatore’s Italian Garden Buffalo, NY David Hughes presents "Multi-State Taxation" at the 60th Annual TEI Upstate New York Tax Conference. The all-day event hosts speakers from across the United States who will discuss tax and tax-related topics. Click here to learn more about the conference. Click here to contact David with questions.…

5/1/19 Chicago, IL David Hughes is a faculty member for Sales Tax Institute's Advanced Sales and Use Tax Advanced Workshop. David discusses taxation services, the construction industry and gross receipts taxes. Click here to learn more about Advanced Sales Use Tax Workshops. Click here to contact David with questions.…

Everyone loves a sequel, right? What's old is new these days with remakes taking the box office by storm as well as dominating people's DVRs. The same can be said for the state tax world. A large number of my picks for this year's noteworthy income tax decisions are appeals from previous years' decisions. The following cases are ones that…

3/12/19 Ritz-Carlton new Orleans New Orleans, LA David Hughes presents "Market Based Sourcing" at the ABA/IPT Advanced State Income, Sales/Use & Property Tax Seminar in March. The seminar is designed with attorneys, accountants, tax directors state and local tax managers, government tax officials, appraisers, property tax managers, commercial and industrial property managers and others interested in state and local income,…

Live Webinar At the end of this Webinar, participants will: Appreciate the numerous ways states are trying to tax out-of-state sellers Be aware of the "single state" attack on Quill and potential ramifications associated with its demise Understand the constitutional hurdles that a state must overcome to reverse Quill…

Council On State Taxation (COST) Sales Tax Conference & Audit Session San Antonio, TX - 3/1/17 Early Morning Ethics Coffee Talk: Ethics and Professional Responsibilities for Transaction Tax Professionals It's never too early to learn about ethics. Come to this early morning session and be entertained by these speakers as they cover new and breaking ethical issues related to transactional…

An Illinois court September 3 dismissed a suit against out-of-state wine sellers and held that a state liquor law did not require the sellers to collect local sales and use taxes. In Stephen B. Diamond PC v. 1-800-Flowers.com, an Illinois attorney filed a qui tam complaint in the Circuit Court of Cook County on behalf of the state alleging that a group…